Everything Dawn Staley said previewing South Carolina’s upcoming game against Florida

South Carolina head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley spoke to the media on Wednesday to preview the team’s upcoming matchup against Florida. Here’s everything she had to say.

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On what concerns Staley about Florida

“Their ability to score. Like, they can score. They can put a lot of points on the scoreboard in a variety of ways–most likely, the paint. So, drivers, bigs that occupy a lot of space, transition.”

On how South Carolina plans to stop Florida

“We’re not too good with (a) jump (defense). We really aren’t too good with jump. We’re good with scrambling, but I think we just play our defense, rely on that. It’s worked for us. If we need to change a little bit, we’ll do it on the fly. It will be ‘in a moment’s notice’ type of thing, so we haven’t worked on any other defenses.”

On a bid to bring a WNBA franchise to Charlotte

“I think if we brought the W back to Charlotte, there’s a lot more movement when it comes to women’s basketball that I do think it will work. The attendance would be there. At this stage of the game, you have to pour money into even getting a franchise, so the money is going to be there to market, to put the product on the floor that all of these Gamecock FAMs have been longing for. 

“I mean, we have too many players in the league for us not to be season ticket holders. I’m a season ticket holder for the (Atlanta) Dream because that’s the closest, and all of our players come through there. So, we have two opportunities, but an hour-and-15-minute drive versus three-hour drive bodes well for my lifestyle.”

On how Joyce Edwards will improve upon performance against Texas

“Just that you got to be able to turn the page. Most great players, they turn the page a lot quicker than others. That’s what makes them great; that’s what makes them pros. So, here is an opportunity for Joyce (Edwards) to just learn to turn the page.”

Win tickets to the South Carolina-Arkansas women’s basketball game

“As a coach, I don’t connect games to other games. Once we debrief, once we decompress, we move on. If Joyce wants to stay there, then it might connect. But Joyce isn’t the type that’s going to stay there. Joyce wants to play well, wants to do well, wants to see the work that she puts in. So, it was just that.”

On how South Carolina aims to bounce back from loss

“I mean, it shakes you a little bit because it’s so unfamiliar. You think about where you need to improve. Most times when we’ve lost, it’s more like an anomaly. Like, it’s, ‘What the heck? That wasn’t us. That wasn’t our defense; that wasn’t our offense.’

“More times than not, it was the opponent that did something to us. And then, it was some of it’s self-inflicted, as well. So, we got to figure out what (was) self-inflicted, what the opponent forced us to do, what’s the anomaly of it – and then, try to fix it all at once. I think, for us, we just need to get back confident and doing things the way we need to do things.”

On A’ja Wilson’s new signature Nike “A’One” shoe

“With A’ja (Wilson), we can’t let her fail. We’re not going to let her fail. So, if I have to be a one-woman marketing person, then I’m going to do that.

“I’m super proud. When I had the pink ones, it’s hard to believe. Like, these are her shoes. She was working out here in her pink shoes. I had the pink shoes on. It’s her shoe, as A’ja Wilson has all the things that really made her who she is. It’s not often that great players are bestowed such an honor, but it’s super cool to have her shoe.

Win tickets to Senior Day, South Carolina-Kentucky women’s basketball game

“I mean, we got another one on our team that has a shoe – Lay’s (MiLaysia Fulwiley) got a shoe. They haven’t gotten me a pair… My shoes are coming. Lay’s shoes are coming in the mail. And once they do, I’m going to give you everything – all the details that went to her getting a signature shoe.”

On what South Carolina’s post players learned from physical game against Texas

“That depends. Are they in foul trouble? You got to factor in all of that. Foul trouble, it’s really hard. (Sania) Feagin wasn’t as aggressive as she normally is, so she gave up too much space. She gave up too many direct passes into her. And then, for some reason, you got to collapse your defense. You got to play in gaps to disrupt just ‘point A to point B’ passes. That’s not who we’ve been.

“So, maybe it’s getting someone else. Like, get Kima (Sakima Walker) ready – she’s 6-foot-6 (or) getting Adhel (Tac) ready because they’re big women that we really got to try to insert them and use them in places in which we can steal some moments if we’re in foul trouble. Or, just throw them out there just to see if we can give somebody a different look.”

On South Carolina’s free-throw struggles

“We went from almost 74% trending up to a place that probably is our norm. This team was a little bit different than that – they were shooting them at a high clip, and we aren’t changing anything. Like, this is what we do – we’ll stop practice, and we’ll simulate being on the free-throw line if we got fouled. We do a bunch of them after practice. 

“So, it’s more of a confidence thing. It’s more of a focus thing. It’s more of, sometimes, you second-guess yourself because you missed a few of them. You just got to work through it. It’s not anything but working through.”

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